Starr Ann just loves to color. Always has. Coloring puts Starr Ann in this real mellow state that makes her eyes all soft, and her voice lilts very gently while she makes up the nicest stories about whatever picture she's working on. To me, it always feels like being right inside Starr Ann's mind as she meditates.
I was telling Jodie about that a few weeks ago and I guess she took note, because last night after supper she came barreling through the door with three jumbo coloring books, a 120 pack of crayolas, and a fifth of Wild Turkey 101, saying, "Clear off that kitchen table, ladies, and prepare to put your adult selves on hold."
Jodie said she made sure to get three books that were alike, so we could all be working on the same picture at one time. Very cool, Starr Ann and I thought. So we got down three glasses and took turns throwing back shots of the Wild Turkey.
Starr Ann took her time picking out the first drawing. Finally, she turned her page outward for us to see and said, "How about starting out simple on this plain house with the flowers out front?"
Jodie and I turned to the correct page. I started on the grass, because grass doesn't call for any huge decisions right away. I always go with regular green. Jodie, I could see, began with the sky. Personally, I think the blue she chose was a bit much, but that was none of my business. Starr Ann went right to work on the house itself. As the liquor hit bottom, we all fell into the nicest back and forth cadence. Really soothing.
In her soft coloring-book voice Starr Ann said, "Cozy house. Safe looking. Wonder how many people went homeless today."
It didn't call for an answer, and after a while, when Jodie had moved down from the sky and was making her house brick red, she mentioned how it reminded her of a villa she had stayed at with friends in Spain years ago. She said she wondered how those people felt about Americans right now, and if they had her grouped in with the horrible acts our country is party to these days.
My grass was totally green and I was making some buttercups yellow. I said, "Ever think about how much sexual behavior goes on in a garden? I mean, pollination, nothing but a sex act."
Jodie and Starr Ann looked at each other and they each raised both eyebrows at the same second.
Next time, it was my turn to choose what we colored. I found a great kitten-with-ball-of-yarn scene that looked fun. We took another shot and got started.
This time, a little ways on, Starr Ann said, "No telling what happens to the pets when a family loses their home."
Jodie said a day doesn't go by that she doesn't spare a thought for the animals caught amidst all our human destruction.
I think I remarked on how soft and warm and sweet pussycats are.
A theme was definitely emerging.
Before doing the final picture of the night we thought it would be a capital idea to have double shots. Very tingly.
Jodie chose her picture and quite deliberately, but with flare, then she reached over to each our books and opened to the proper page for us. We could have done it. I think.
They were working on theirs already by the time I remembered I needed to check out the picture before choosing my crayon. But the colors were so beautiful all of a sudden. Anyway, when I did look down at my book, I got a tiny surprise.
I said, "We should have been working in this section all along, you all. Dang, this lady straddling this...what is it, a Hitachi Magic Wand? A Purple Penetrator?"
Starr Ann and Jodie did their simultaneous eyebrow thing again. I remember thinking how we really must be lesbians with a capital L, super lesbians, because there had been a total of eight eyebrow raises within the past hour.
Starr Ann snatched my coloring book and took a look. "Margo, that isn't a lady straddling anything. That's the same thing Jodie and I have - a cloud formation above a shuttle launch. Then she turned my book sideways and her eyes got wide. Jodie turned hers that way too and her eyes got wide. I put mine back at the lady angle and we all colored them that way.
All in all, a great night. But look what I found for the next time. I ordered three.
